Halong Bay by Ghost Ship

we had one night in hanoi again between our sapa and halong bay tours. the next morning we got up early to catch our transportation from hanoi to halong city on the coast. about a three hour van ride. we were greeted by our tour guide (steven) once we got to the pier area. he informed us we had to wait for one more couple before we boarded the ship. everyone else had been directed elsewhere because they had booked different boats and tours.

**note of interest is that my new hairdresser here in calgary is from halong city. :)

**another note of interest: roel decided that he wanted to do this trip in the luxury boat since we have been staying at lower end places for a while now. we paid big bucks for our 24 hour trip!

our fellow tourmates arrived and steven brought us to our private boat. wait a minute...what?! just four of us on the boat?? i thought we booked a big cruise ship. steven said that since there were only four of us they had upgraded us to a private boat seeing as though it's cheaper for the tour operator. we were very excited. five employees and four guests. haha!
unfortunately the old english couple we were with were NOT happy and refused to let the ship depart because they had no interest in spending time on the small boat. they wanted the big boat or a refund. after almost two hours of haggling (while roel and i were on the upper deck enjoying the best seafood of our lives) we were told we were moving to the big boat.

we couldn't believe it. four of us for a giant junk boat which takes over 40 employees to operate when at capacity (i would guess there were about 20-25 employees on board for our cruise). an adventure already and we hadn't even left the harbour.

back to our meal on the small ship first: one whole fresh crab each with a salty citrus dipping sauce, a squid and veggie stir fry which was so good i can't even describe, a very large and tasty grilled fresh fish (i was too busy stuffing my face to ask what kind it was), spring rolls, fresh shrimp...we couldn't move after that feast. best food ever.

back to the big boat...once the ship started moving we ran around each level like little kids exploring a church after a sunday fundraising lunch. we couldn't stop laughing...it was just so bizarre. a whole ship almost entirely to ourselves! we settled on the top deck and just lay on the loungers looking at the jigsaw cutout limestone cliffs jutting out from the south china sea imagining how it would have looked as deep sea underwater millions of years ago.

after we had a chance to settle in steven offered to take us on a quick kayak tour. our beloved travel companions were older and not in shape to join us. we were fine with that. if we had to choose trip highlights this definitely makes top 5. this is an instance where pictures can't possibly do justice.













when we got back to the mothership it was a chance for us to jump in the water. it was a brilliant green with a slightly milky quality which i'm sure is an effect of all the limestone. it was colder than the ocean in vancouver in summer. that's pretty cold. same body of water that we swam in in mui ne and nha trang (see earlier posts) but different climate and currents. the crew gathered round to watch the crazy tourists jump in..at the time we didn't know these waters were jellyfish infested. steven told us after as he didn't want to dampen our spirits. he was watching us from the top of the ship scouting for any in the vicinity. at the time we were wondering why he was perched so attentively. haha


we had a great dinner later. fancy presentation, 5 gourmet courses. another highlight. after dark steven got us from our room and we tried our luck at squid fishing from the back of the boat (same place we swam from). the crew set-up a giant spotlight into the water (apparently this attracts the squid) and we kept dipping our lines in and out of the water. steven caught one but we were empty handed.

we were early to bed and woke up in time for morning thai chai on the upper deck and then had a great breakfast. we were on our way to the 'amazing cave'. mountains of limestone on the outside, hollowed out caverns on the inside. full of tourists from other cruises but definitely worth the stop. the cave was backlit with different coloured lights. pretty and almost kitschy.

after we taxi'd back to our ship we were bound for land. we made our connecting ride back to hanoi where we would have two more nights before flying to thailand.

Hue

only a 4 hour bus ride away we arrived at hue at about noon.  i know i've said alot about it being hot in the past but THIS was the warmest.  haha  we got absolutely blasted once we stepped off the bus by the heat and everyone trying to sell something.  this is the first time i lost it, it was just too much this time.  the good news is is that it worked and i had a few feet buffer around me so i could see where the driver had thrown my pack on the sidewalk.

we walked to our hotel about 10 mins away (we are getting pretty good at this navigating thing in new places without proper maps!).  after we dumped our bags at the guesthouse we went to eat down the street and had pizza.  sometimes you just gotta have some familiar food.  this pizza was actually really good!  we would go back for more another day.  we just went back to the room after because it was too warm to even think of doing anything.

the next morning we signed up for an all day tour of the tombs and thien mu pagoda.  there were a few other things thrown in as well but they aren't worth mentioning and were created solely for the people on these types of tours.

our tour bus stopped at three tombs of the nguyen dynasty.  they were all pretty big and impressive with man made lakes and canals on the grounds.  they were also all quite similar.  you couldn't get up close to the tombs themselves.

one of these things is not like the others...

the day also included a boat ride to thien mu pagoda.  a beautiful pagoda with a lovely garden.  we had to pay for it though.  you think riding on a covered boat would be cool and refreshing but the air was thick and stagnant.  i suppose it helps you enjoy the destination more? 

the next day we switched to a nicer hotel with a pool.  we spent the day doing odd things like goign to the post office, checking out a market, watching tv in the air conditioning.  i love off days!  i think i'm beginning to miss a sense of a homebase.  i am not nearly done travelling yet, but every once and a while i miss not having a home to come to.  but i know that will come soon enough.  can't wait to do that with roel.

next up was the citadel.  it is a former imperial city (1804) along a river that was later heavily bombed by the americans (surprise).  so a lot of the buildings are no longer there.  but what is there is fascninating.  there is a moat within the moated perimeter which sections off the imperial enclosure which is home to the forbidden purple city which was reserved for the private life of the emporer.  the most intersting place on the grounds was the emporer's reading pagoda and garden courtyard.

the queen mom also had a huge pad with a big stone courtyard and an activities area that had a number of cool buildings.  there .  they are doing a great job with all the restoration work at the citadel.  we've seen a lot at this point and you can tell they are actually making an effort with this one.

after hue we would fly to hanoi, the capitol of vietnam.  we have been warned so many times about watching our money and how nasty it can be there.  you know we'll be watching our cab driver even more closely thsi time.

Hoi An

we landed in hoi an relatively early.  the hotel was supposed to have a driver waiting for us but no such luck.
a cabbie ended up letting us use his cell phone to get a hold of our hotel to see what was happening.  a few phone calls later the hotel told us to use this driver.  (keep in mind there were a few fake phone calls the driver placed to our hotel so iw asn't sure what was true).  a little leary we agreed on a price (250 dong) and stepped into the cab.

when we got to the hotel the driver demanded 350 dong instead of the 250 we agreed to.  50 extra for the phone use and an additional 50 for no getting us there alive?  i gave him 300 and said i would pay for phone (i was like whatever at this point) but that was it.  he was NOT happy with that.

the hotel would not step in so i went inside and asked them what they would do.  they told us to just go to our room and ignore him.  when i waved roel over (he was waiting by the cab) the driver stood in front of him and pushed him back. the employees found this funny....us not so much.  after some further coaching from the front desk i went down to the the guy and said he could have 20 more or he gets nothing.  i was ready to rumble at this point if he pushed again.  he took it, grumbled something and went off.  welcome to hoi an!

ironically enough this ended up being our favourite stop so far in vietnam.  a very charming town.  heavily shaped by the french.  narrow streets with some beautiful old buildings and multi level restaurants with balconies open to the streets.  the only downside is that it was mid thirties or more everyday with very high humidity of course.  luckily we found a new resort about a 10 min walk from the centre of town that had two less desirable rooms near the lobby for really cheap.  beautiful pool area and amazing buffet breakfast included.  this buffet was heaven sent.  it gave us real clean food to start our day.  invaluable. 

another interesting thing to note is that this is the first place that didn't understand why we wanted one queen bed instead of two singles.  they were very nice people and thought they were doing us a favour.  eventually they put it together and had a good giggle and were perfectly fine with it.  haha  most places don't even think twice about us sharing a bed.

finding relief from the sun in the alley on a HOT day.

very relaxed dining along the river that ran through town.  lined with restaurants and coloutful lights along each bank.  this is the bridge that connects the two banks.  it's still lit up from tet (vietnamese version of chinese new year).

hoi an is also the capitol of tailor made anything.  we both designed shoes in the morning and picked them up at night for $15/pair.  not the best quality but they're really cute and were a lot of fun to design.  sorry, no pictures.  you'll have to come and visit us to see them!  roel also got swim shorts made in anticipation of our time on the beach in thailand.

we did a day trip to my son.  it was an important site as far as the war was conerned (one of the areas the US made little progress in).  lack of progress partly attributed to the fact they thought the VC were hiding in old ruins (they weren't).  more importanly this sight is home to the most extensive remains of the cham empire (7 AD).  they are now an ethnic minority that originally came from java (indonesia).  the cham people were originally hindu (most now live in the mekong delta ..we were there already!.. and are buddhist).
much of the ruins are now in even further ruins due to the extensive bombimg during the war. 
roel posing with a large linga. (very important male part in hindu worship)

we also went to the marble mountains for a morning trip before it got too warm for the day.  aptly named, they are huge slabs of marble that used to be islands in the ocean - now mountains on land.  beautiful hiking with marble steps carved from the mountain, amazing caves with giant religious carvings, pagodas and courtyards along the hike as well.  at one point we even found a little hole at the end of a cave that led to a beautiful lookout point to the coast.

enough for hoi an.  i have to catch up on my posts!!

More Beach in Nha Trang

we took the sleeper bus to nha trang which is a beach resort city five hours north up the coast from mui ne.

this bus was sick. like roel said it smelled of feet. full of stinky backpackers. apparently it's only cool to wear dirty clothes and have bad b.o. roel and i constantly find ourselves stuck somehwere between backpacker and regular tourist.

we arrived at about 6am and walked from the drop-off to our hotel. our hotel was adequate. about a 10 minute walk to the beach and the main restaurant drag.

we spent a bit of time at the beach each day and also managed some sightseeing. roel has broken out into a heat rash all over that seems to be ok as long as we stay dry and cool during the heat of the day.  we've had some laid-back afternoons.

nothing too exciting at this stop as it's mainly a beach resort city. the street vendors are relentless here (on the beach as well). hard to feel totally relaxed when you are bombarded every couple of minutes.

we saw a few local kids splashing each other in the ocean (they had just arrived on their bikes). i told one of them to splash roel using hand motions while roel's back was turned. he was hesitant but i ended up helping out and in no time it was four against one. hehe i could tell that they were more comfortable when the white guy stepped away so i went to the shore and took a few pictures. a cute moment.

we went to a local aquarium (pretty amatuer but fascinating nonetheless. there was a large room dedicated to pickled/bottled (what word am i looking for?) specimens including a huge sea cow, seahorses, squid, etc. a solemn and creepy vibe with the sun lighting up the room through the jars. like a stained glass effect in a big empty church.

we were also going to take a cable car to an island off the shore to see the best view of the area but once we got to it we figured out that it was owned by an amusement park on the island and they had changed the rules so that it was also mandatory to buy tickets to visit the park for the day.  it was no longer just $8 to ride back and forth.  grr  waste of a morning to get there!

we saw the po nagar cham towers which were used for worship by hindus, built between 7 and 12 centuries.  we also stopped in at long son pagoda where you can also find a giant seated buddha.
notice the little white head on top of the pagoda in the distance.  that's the giant buddha you have to hike up to.

it was a good stop to just relax. we ended up booking a flight for our next stop. the bus was to take 12 hours vs a 55 minute flight. the buses are way to small for my legs and shoulders so it as well worth the $45 dollar ticket each.

at this point i am almsot two weeks behind on blogging.  eek!  they may get a lot briefer.

Mui Ne Beach Getaway

**big thanks to everyone who has checked out the blog.  i started tracking traffic about a month and a half ago and have just surpassed 1,000 visits!  very cool.  helps motivate me to keep recording our travels.**

i've been SUPER frustrated with the computers around here. one of our memory cards from the camera somehow became corrupted. grr one of the internet cafes was able to burn a copy of the pictures but couldn't fix the card.  i also haven't been able to log into my blogging account for over a week because the connections all time out with this website for some reason.  i'm currently in a vietnamese post office.

let us continue...
once again we left bright and early. this time our destination was mui ne. one of the less developed beach towns accessible by the average tourist. we aren't exactly blazing any new trails. definitely something to be said for doing that but it takes a lot of time and energy in this part of the world. we thought a month in vietnam was a long time but we are feeling rushed already!
the drive was somewhat painful since it took almost twice as long as the posted time with stops here and there on our non-stop bus. something we have come to expect. most of the way we travelled on a one lane highway with the driver sitting on the horn informing motorcyclists to move it or lose it. as we got within about 30 mins of mui ne we could see the blue green ocean peeking through the trees and increasingly mountainous landscape.

we arrived early afternoon in the heat of the day without accoms. so we suited up with our packs and a tote bag a piece along the main (the only) street. we stopped in at a few that had been recommended but they were full. we ended up taking a recommendation by our faithful lonely planet book (which happened to be the bus stop we started at). man did we score! ended up on the ground floor room closest to the beach. we fell asleep and woke up to the waves. about 10 paces to the sand and the beautiful emerald south china sea.

we jumped in as soon as we managed to find our swim shorts in our packs. the hotel also had a nice centre courtyard with heated pool. not bad for $25 a night. hehe

the next day we hired a driver and jeep for the day to take us to the main sights of the area:
a fishing village, red canyon/dunes, white dunes and a creek randomly named the fairy stream.

the fishing village was just a stop along the highway for a photo op. the only thing that didn't quite make it as picturesque as you might think is the fact that yards and yards of fish were drying along the breaker wall below us. we shot and ran.

the red canyon was amazing. it has been carved out by water finding its way to the ocean during heavy rainfalls. the sand was very fine and a vibrant rusty orange colour. you could break off pieces of the wall and watch it turn to powder in your hand. it was also a billion degrees inside the canyon. we climbed the walls at one point to get some air and take a peek at the prairie like landscape that stretched out forever with the ocean as backdrop. we were on our own which gave it a magical and more adventurous feeling. our driver stayed back at the jeep for a snooze.

next up was the white dunes. definitely the highlight (other than the beach) at mui ne. pictures don't even come close to capturing the size and vastness. we rented sheets of plastic (crazy carpets for you crazy canucks) for a dollar and took a crack at sliding down some of them. my runs were really slow and not that much fun. sand in parts i didn't know i had by the end of it all. more like mud seeing as though i was sweating like a pig. good thing the beauty was enough to distract me for most of the time. the sliding was more work than it was worth for my part. roel on the other hand had a different shape of plastic to slide on and the technique to match! he picked up some good speed and hollered all the way. haha it was much fun watching. you know how i said it was hot in the canyon? i was wrong. oh my. imagine being in a desert with really high humidity. they recommend you don't were sandals because the sand gets even too warm for them. the heat really kicks in when you're trying to get up some of the steeper dunes to get a birds eye view...every step you take brings you half a step back. it's like going up a down escalator that's going double time inside of a broiling oven.

lastly we saw the fairy river. it's a small creek about ankle deep (up to waist in some parts so had to watch your step). you start near the beach and walk your way up until you hit a small waterfall. the walk up is stunning. you have red and white banks/cliffs on one side and green vegetation on the other. water comes from out of nowhere. literally out of the side of the sandy wall and feeds into the stream. the stream is warm and made up of a variety of colours dependant on what colour the wall is at the source of water. make sense? i'll just show you a picture...

side note: i saw a long water snake a few yards ahead of me. roel has a real snake phobia so lucky i was in front. he already stepped on a sharp rock and was worried he would lose his foot (yes, really). hahaha i didn't confirm or deny i saw a snake until we were back at the jeep. ;)

on our last day there we stayed inside until lunch watching the olympics and recovering from the heat exhaustion from the prior day. cheered on the canadian women's hockey team as they won gold! another shout out to the canadian men's curling and hockey teams!!! goldgoldgold! the way it should be. americans please don't be too bitter about the hockey ok? keep in mind that you have run away with the medal count and us canadians are lucky to get any medals at the summer olympics. thanks.

we hit the beach again in the afternoon and had a long late dinner before we took a night bus to nha trang. note: don't take the night bus unless you have something to knock you out. luckily we did. i was the guinea pig (roel didn't take them). it was an anti-anxiety prescribed by his doctor that's supposed to help you sleep very soundly. i forget the name - it ends in 'pam'. only downside is that i felt groggy for a half day after. definitely going back to the meds for the trip from melbourne to la in may.

Mekong Delta Tour

we took a two day one night tour from saigon to the mekong delta.  in short it is a vast system of tributaries from the mekong river where it meets the south china sea.  extremely fertile land.  it is possible to travel on your own throughout the region but it gets a little complicated and pretty time consuming -time we choose to spend elsewhere- so we did the group tour thing.

day 1
-started with bus ride to our first stop where we boarded a lond boat with a motor.  we visited a small local floating market but only a few boats selling potatoes were around because of tet (their version of chinese new year).
-boat also brough us to a honey farm were they served us a honey/lime tea which was out of this world...mostly because it was 50% honey.  beside this farm was a coconut candy factory.  yummy candies which us suckers ended up buying.  so far the tour was a rip as these were clearly staged and not real farms or factories.  oh yeah...and the bees were swarming our coffee cups while we were drinking it.  we got the heck outta dodge after the tasty tasting.
-they brought us to a restaurant along a scenic canal.  the rewstaurant also had bicycles we could use to tour around the area for an hour.  this was a lot of fun.  i forgot how much ground you can cover on a bike.

-after lunch a woman paddled three of us on quite a tippy thin wooden canoe.  this was fun.

-we then caught a bus to bin *** where four of us waited for another tour group to pick us up to take us to our hotel for the night.  we had about an hour and this was the highlight of the tour for me.  we went to a local market (on land this time).  it was WILD!  live pigs being tied up, jumbo prawns crawling around, fish being gutted alive, live chickens tied by their feet flopping on the floor, large live snakes being sold by the handfull for dinner...amazing.
blogspot is flipping this image all on its own so please turn your head to view.  notice the tied up live chickens beside their less (more?) fortunate brothers.

bag of snakes anyone?

while waiting for the bus a woman about 40 years old asked me to play a kind of version of hacki-sac (sp?) with her.  we've seen this game played a lot in SE asia thus far.  it was a lot of fun and i surprised myself showing a little ability (i am terible at hacki-sac).  she thought i was hilarious and we played until the bus came.  i believe it was a novelty for both us.

-we stayed in can tho for night (the bus ride inhere included a ride on a large ferry after dark.  we were able to get onto the deck and let the fresh breeze cool us off) and met two girls from california in their early/mid twenties and hit it off.  there were in vietnam for their uncle's wedding.  they spoke vietnamese so it was great having them to help us understand, well almost everything.  we would hang out with then in saigon two more times before we would move on. we will definitely look them up when we get back to cali.  they're from sacramento - less than an hour from where roel is originally from.

day 2
-we visited the largest floating market in the mekong delta (tet was over!).  they sold everything on these ships (as far as food goes).  each boat has a long bamboo pole with the item that is being sold hanging from the top. we pulled up to a pineapple baot and they cut fresh ones up for us for about .60 a pineapple.  the sweetest i've ever had.

-the rest of the day involved a long boat ride through back canals to see how people lived along the river and a visit to an actual rice paper and noodle factory.  it has been passed on from generation to generation within four families that work together.  fascinating process to watch (for about 10 minutes).  ha

when we got back to saigon we had a big night out with a few people from the tour near the area where we were all staying.  we had a blast and managed to be in bed at a reasonable hour.  on our last day in saigon we needed some fun and relief from the heat so we went to a big waterpark!  look up dam sen waterpark if interested.  weeee!  the two girls i mentioned met us there and we all very much enjoyed our down-time day.  afterwards we went to a large touristy market where they sell t-shirts, trinkets, knock-offs and the like.  once again it helped a lot to have someone there to interpret for us plus they are just great fun to be with.  :)

a group pic of us at a little amusement park.  year of the tiger! (i am well aware that we are posing in front of a lion statue)

the next morning we would leave for mui ne which is north up the coast about 5 hours by bus.

we are very much keeping track of the olympics with british and australian espn.  very odd commentators.  they should not be allowed to cover winter olympics.  however i am grateful for what we do get.  go canada go!!

ps. i have gotten SO lazy that i don't even read what i've typed.  i'm just happy if i get to post at all.

Good Morning Vietnam

whoa..so it's been a while since my last update and i'm having to strech my memory for details at this point.

we left bright and early from phnom penh to catch our bus to saigon (now technically called ho chi minh city but rarely used).  an attempt of the vietnamese to reclaim the once french colonial city.  the border was less stressful than that of cambodia but still an experience.  the bus guide collected all of our passports and visas (which you have to obtain in advance) and placed them inside a plastic grocery bag in one big lump sum.  inside the airconditioned immigration building we all waited in one big group waiting for one of two agents to call our names.  kinda like bingo.  roel was dead last...we were both starting to get a little worried by this time.  haha  at least i have two passports i keep in different places.  we were probably there for a little less than two hours.  part of the journey involved the bus having to cross one branch of the mekong river on a small barge type ferry.  amazing use of every square inch of space available.  they probably had almost a dozen people inside the car nevermind the people in the trunk.

once we entered vietnam we could immediately tell the different standard of living (generalization of course).  two lane highway in each direction (never more than one in cambodia), proper signage and stores, etc.  but still a far cry from anything westerners are used to.

we arrived in saigon early afternoon.  the bus dropped us off in backpackerville and our hotel was about a 20 minute walk from there.  we are relatively proud of ourselves with finding it without having to ask for any directions.  we spent a bit more than we were budgeting for but it was worth it ($33/night).  it was more of a mini hotel than a hostel or guesthouse.  in fact it was called saigon mini hotel.

we spent the evening wandering the streets and eating local cuisine.  it is marginally more expensive than cambodia stops but not bearly as bad as we had been told.  you can still get your fried noodles or rice or pho for under $2.

the next day we headed for the main attractions in the city.  the reunification (or independence) palace and the war remnants museum.  the former was the last strong hold of southern vietnamese and US troops before viet cong (communist north vietnam) stormed the gates.  interesting to note that leadership in south vietnam wasn't much worth fighting for.  the palace has been frozen in time and is open to wonder for a few bucks.  beautiful ballrooms, bedrooms, meeting rooms, casino room, etc from the 70's.  they have repaired the gates that the tanks rolled over.  it was where the leader of south vietnam resided.  there is much more of a history of this building and land which i don't claim to remember exactly so i won't try.  worth a read though.
meeting room for government committees:

we then headed to the war remnant museum.  completely overwhelming.  i don't know when i have ever felt so little.  i identify myself as canadian but in the museum i felt as though every vietnamese was looking at me with piercing eyes.  i speak english and am as white as snow...i'm as good as american and technically am i suppose.  all i could do was keep a few steps back at each exhibit and try to say i'm sorry as best i could without saying anything at all.  there were vietnamese people talking to the pictures and even one woman hitting and yelling at a us soldier featured in one of them.  he was holding up a head with a partial body of a vietnamese civilian in celebration after a successful grenade launch.
they had us fighter planes and helicopters on display. 

the museum also had information on france's brutal ruling of the country and recreations of their prisons, etc.  picture of a guillotine used into the 1950's.

check out this link for information about this amazing museum.  warning, graphic content.

http://www.downtheroad.org/Asia/Photo/3Vietnam_Pictures/3War_Remnants_Museum.htm

the museum is portrayed from the current vietnamese's government's point of view (and rightly so). there are a few items which you may question as far as embellishments go.  however there is no denying the absolute careless slaughter of the vietnamese people.  this is the only war museum that i have seen that does not hold back on any pictures or details.  you see the real aftermath of war - not the cleaned up version.  statistics they provide are 2 million vietnamese civilians and 1 million soldiers being killed.  agent orange was spread over vast areas which have effects to this day (birth defects, etc).  villages were cut down and burned along with the inhabitants...  i could go on and on but once again i'm sure you get the idea.  i haven't even mentioned the 'interrogation' techniques employed.  roel and i discovered that we were both thinking the same thing at the time.  'this isn't so different to iraq and guantanamo bay'.  we are also both considering if we really want to reside in the us.  international policies and relations really haven't changed.  why do they think they know better?  how come when they invade countries that they have no ownership or entitlement to and kill thousands of civilians it isn't genocide, terrorism or a war crime?  is anyone being tried for murder for not actually having the original intelligence or proof of wmd's in iraq when that was the premise of invasion?  i know there are many other countries guilty of this too but why not start with our own backyard?  i would love to rant on but all i can say is that truly looking through the eyes of another people has changed my view of the world.  and i thought i saw many shades of grey before....  this museum should be made mandatory for all those entering politics.  it's a can't miss for those who ever get a chance to visit saigon.
then again what do i know?  i'm just a tourist passing through raising the same questions that have been asked for centuries.  who knows maybe they won't even let me into the us after this post.  ha

the next morning we took off on our cu chi tunnel tour.  the cu chi people lived north of saign and were primarily a farming people.  the americans considered them a threat and tried to exterminate the whole lot.  so what did they do?  they lived underground in a huge network of tunnels for twenty years.  yes that's right. 20 years.  if they didn't have an opinion on the war before the attacks they sure did afterwards.  fascinating stuff.  definitely a highlight of the trip so far.  how they cooked, bathed, went to the washroom without seeing daylight.  up to nine meters underground.  farming above ground at night.  we got to go through 50 meters of actual tunnel (not the replica tunnel set-up for obese americans visiting).  can you sense my resentment?
i could duckwalk most of the way but at one point i was on my hands an knees.  i made sure i was first in the group of about 20 because i couldn't handle being trapped on either side in the dark.
a shot of roel behind me:

i tried out a foxhole that most of the people couldn't fit in.  a group of older chinese tourists were very impressed that a white man could fit.  i had to have my arms raised to slide in.  approx 1.5 meters deep and less than 1 meter wide.  the opening was tiny.  i did get all the way in and they could have put the cover on.

in the afternoon we took it easy and explored more of downtown saigon.  i should mention that the vietnamese glad (along with hammer and sickle insingia) are everywhere.  i would also like to mention that we have walked nearly everywhere (other than to the tunnels which are a ways out of town) rather than opting for taxis in order to see more of saigon.
this is a shout-out to our friend jan back in van!  jan, notice the nice rooftop bar.  a big bottle of beer 50 cents!!!

at night we went to the only gay club in the city.  we wren't sure what to expect but it was filled with young locals wearing their fancy new knock-offs sipping way overpriced drinks.  i was the only white person there when we arrived.  the music was very electronic and not so fun so we left after one drink and went to a bar that advertises itself as being gay friendly.  good hiphop and pop music and mixed crowd including female prostitutes.

interesting note:  in bangkok the locals spoke to roel in thai. he gets many stares as he is light skinned, well dressed.  they are trying to figure out who he is as they think he is famous.  you should have seen the heads turn - like dominos falling over!  also got many intersting looks as at times people thought he was my boy for hire.  it may have depended on who was walking in front!  no confusion in cambodia as they look a bit darker usually.  everyone in vietnam is speaking to him in vietnamese and think he's showing me around.  the locals have a really good laugh when they find out he only speaks english and is actually chinese/filipino.  they usually end up pulling over a friend and explaining the situation and they inevitabley find it equally funny.  it's funny for us to and we all crack up.  haha

toodle-loo